The newsletter of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship June 2009 Volume 9, Issue 2 ISSN 1474-4902 Price per issue £2 Price per year £7.50 (post-paid UK) £10 (post-paid overseas) A key issue underlying recent developments is the extent to which the British Government policy actually refl ects public opinion. It is clear that the executive, run by a small leadership elite, has too much power and can subvert the functions of government. Corruption follows because there is a lack of accountability; although by comparison to some notorious cases, the recent allowances’ scandal is trivial indeed. The Government’s attitude to protest is also changing as evidenced by the aggressive police action at the G20 demonstrations in London. With particular reference to war, we should be asking serious questions about why good foreign policy - which seems to be mostly commonsense – should be overwhelmed by ideology, nasty politics and the arrogance of power; and how governments so easily reach a point when the pressure to win a war at all costs seems to rob them of choice, which is the core of any Multi-national forces hand over of Basra hand over Multi-national forces commonsense policy. They often ignore rational argument. Hence, the important September This is a time for endings with which we are all conference ‘The citizen and the law of armed confl ict’ (see page 8). too familiar. American and British forces leave Iraq having achieved nothing of real value despite When dealing with such issues, an understanding of their history is important. This is why the the massive cost in human lives and waste of Movement for the Abolition of War holds an annual Peace History Conference. The third conference resources - resources which could have done much entitled ‘Lessons from the past, hope for the future’ was held at the Imperial War Museum in April. to address the real problems of world poverty and global warming. A military confl ict in Sri Lanka Our opening article is a report of a lecture given at the conference by Dr Joe Fahey from the USA. ends in a massacre after 25 years of suffering. It sets out some valuable lessons from the American peace movement’s experience of campaigning Although the nature of warfare has changed against the Vietnam War. It is followed by a complementary article that Joe published last year on dramatically since WWII, the military continues what might be regarded as a simple blueprint for an ethical foreign policy. to place great faith in the use of heavy weapons. From Vietnam and Iraq to the recent invasion of Gaza, history testifi es that aerial bombing is an ineffective, intolerable tactic. In the complex politics of modern wars, such weapons are like LESSONS FROM CIVILIAN torture: they numb moral sensibility and do harm beyond all justifi cation of victory. They should be RESISTANCE IN THE US TO abolished as a prelude to the abolition of war. There are also lessons here for the role of the THE VIETNAM WAR peace movement, which should lead us to refl ect on our effectiveness during these years of military DR JOSEPH FAHEY failure and economic waste. Governments have usually been deaf to our voices and have made new Professor of Religious Studies and member of the Peace Studies faculty of enemies by disregarding the basic laws of war. Manhattan College, Riverdale, New York The main theme of this issue, then, is about the dangers of history repeating itself and we Key points from a lecture given at the MAW begin with the vietnam war. Our sub-theme is Peace History Conference held at the Imperial conscientious objection. War Museum (London) on 24-25th April 2009. Tony Kempster Joe began with a tribute to a military man, Hugh Thompson, who called a halt to the My Lai Contents massacre when he saw that civilians were being Lessons from the campaign against the murdered, by telling his own troops to fire on Vietnam War 1 Six conditions create the way for peace 2 the soldiers responsible unless they stopped. TWO Chairperson’s report. 3 In Joe’s view there have been, since the first General Secretary’s report 4 white settlers came to North America, two PAGE International page 6 strands of what might be regarded as ‘foreign’ Joe Fahey with session chair, Will Pritchard (MAW) TO Book Look 7 policy. One was the peaceable and co-operative provided. Hence imperialism, manifest destiny, Diary of events. Notices. 8 strand, which respected the indigenous massacres of ‘Indians’ and many other wars. The OVER Film Look 9 Americans; the other was the puritanical, darker side tends to hidden so most U.S. Paul Oestreicher’s graduation speech 10 Continuation page 11 militaristic one, which saw the natives as non- students know nothing of the Spanish-American The art of peace 12 human and was prepared to wipe them out in War, or the slaughter of Filipinos – the US are order to take their land and the resources it always the good guys. CONTINUED ONE Volume 9, Issue 2 • June 2009 SIX CONDITIONS CREATE WAY TO PEACE ONE Article by Joe Fahey published in the National Catholic Reporter, October 2008 PAGE Peace scholars tell us that peace has in fact been the dominant FROM human experience and that war – rather than the rule – is an aberration in human affairs. Nor is war very old. War becomes possible with the advent of territoriality (agriculture) about 10,000 years ago and begins to develop with the rise CONTINUED of cities about 5,000 year ago. Peace research tells us that peace between states is possible under six conditions. The first three are informal or citizen- based initiatives: athletic competition, intellectual discourse and artistic celebrations. The second three are formal or government-based actions: trade agreements, diplomatic recognition and international alliances. There was a rather different dichotomy of opinion on the Hence, if a nation wishes to have peaceful relations with Vietnam War. Radicals saw the war as fuelled by imperialism; another nation, it will encourage the exchange of athletes, liberals as an unfortunate mistake. As in most such cases, artists and scholars, while pursuing trade, diplomacy and there were three ways to oppose the war, all of them international law as guarantors of peace. Consequently when ‘ Nobody in the necessary. They can be characterised by three archetypes conflicts between states arise, there are many cultural, describing the approach taken by different types of people: economic, diplomatic and legal alternatives to war as methods front line Priests: who were the bridge-builders, mediators and educators, of dispute resolution. Communication is the first stage engaged in dialogue with all sides. of peace. campaign Conversely if a nation seeks war with another nation it will Examples were: the Teach-in Movement, where people prevent athletes, intellectuals and artists visiting the targeted shared expertise; American Friends Service Committee; nation. Then it will break trade agreements, remove its should hate. Catholic Worker, Dorothy Day ’ diplomats and withdraw from international treaties. Refusal to Monks: who were contemplative and intellectual; rising above communicate is the first stage of war. the fray and seeing things in context, (sub specie aeternitatis). These six conditions for peace have been found in classical, They saw things as objectively as possible. medieval and contemporary relations between states. Examples were: Thomas Merton, whose writing challenged Although these conditions can vary according to time and many; folk musicians such as Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Bob culture, peace between states cannot exist without most of Dylan and Phil Ochs them being in place. Perhaps there is no better illustration of this path to peace that the European Union. War has dominated European history for several millennia. Wars were fought between the Celts and the Romans, between Catholics and Protestants, and between the numerous nation states that emerged in the 16th century. The Latin maxim ‘Si vis pacem para bellum’ (‘If you want peace prepare for war’) led many a nation down the path to war, not peace. Knights, fortresses and continuous bloodshed were used to make ‘peace’, but greater wars resulted. The bloodshed and slaughter in Europe came to a head in the Great War of the 20th century (1914-45). Nine million people were killed in the first phase of the war (1914-1918) and 50 million people were killed in the second phase (1939- 45). Countless millions starved and millions of children grew up without parents. Prophets: who were the people speaking out; calling people to Finally, Europeans had enough. Winston Churchill’s proposal see things in a different way, to be transformed and to act. for a ‘United States of Europe’ in 1946 was initially greeted Examples were Martin Luther King, who urged the anti- with derision, but soon the idea gained acceptance and took Political war movement to do nonviolence training and renounce hold. Immanuel Kant’s vision in Perpetual peace (1795) of an ‘ hatred, as the Civil Rights movement did; the Berrigan international ‘federation of free states’ became the philosophical engagement brothers, with burning of draft cards (though did not foundation for today’s European Union. The EU was formally reach mass of population); Women’s International League inaugurated in 1993 as an economic and political union for Peace and Justice. following a ‘yes’ vote by citizens of all participating states. was necessary, A number of lessons were learnt from the civil resistance Today there are 25 member states that include former fascist movement to the war. First, nobody in the front line campaign and communist states. Today armies of workers, tourists and even if it was should hate and all action should be nonviolent.